Ayala agreed a three-and-a-half deal to join the Teesiders after a loan spell for Aitor Karanka’s side. The 23-year-old never played a first team game under Chris Hughton at Carrow Road after moving from Liverpool in August 2011.

Ayala’s loan deal expired on Thursday but Karanka was keen to make his compatriot his first permanent signing since replacing Tony Mowbray

“We’re near to a deal to keep him,” he said on Thursday. “The club is working to keep him here, and he is an important player for me. The most important thing is that the club are doing everything they can. Would it be another loan or a permanent signing? We are working on lots of options.”

Ayala made 12 starts and one substitute appearance for Boro, scoring three goals, in his loan stint. The Spaniard is also eligible for Boro’s weekend Championship match against promotion-chasing Leicester.

Good to see there were at least a few measured comments on here. To the others, fair enough to hate CH if you must, but I can't help feel your cause would be better served if you kept the criticism of him to real grievances. The way some turn every story on these pages into an anti-CH campaign is frankly boring. I wasn't too happy with the Vaughan\kane move and I don't much rate turner, but other than that I think CH and DM have done very well in the market on the whole. Also, for a team with defenders that can't defend, wingers that can't cross, midfielders that don't go forward and strikers that don't score, CH must be a miracle worker to have us in 12th place currently...! I mean, come on, just a little perspective and focused criticism would at least provoke healthier debate....if you read these pages in isolation, you'd think we were 10 points adrift at the bottom...

Jesus everything seems to be aimed at Hughton but he's done nothing but make this club stronger. On paper we're as strong as we've ever been! Okay on the pitch things haven't gone that well, but you still can't argue that we're half way through the season sitting 12th and 1 point off 10th. Come on people, lets be realistic, that's a good position to be in. So Hoolahans threatening to leave? So what! He's not Hughtons player, he's Lamberts. Give Hughton a chance to build his own team and over time I'm sure we'll reap the rewards for doing so. Patience is a huge problem in football, owners, chairmen and fans. Look at Clubs like Man U (Ferguson) Everton (Moyes) Arsenal and now Pardew at Newcastle. Stability is the key to success. Lets be patient, remind ourselves we're in a good position in the league and realize that our current manager hasn't got his own team yet. Keep the faith, support the team and support Hughton. The grass isn't always yellow and greener on the other side.

If he spent a lot of time injured, which he did, his match fitness would be low, which it was. So he was loaned out but suffered more injuries. If we get £750k which is what was reported to be on the table then that's pretty good for a player we don't play.
If we get someone in even better.
And as for being given a chance, Murphy and Redmond have been criticised in some quarters on this board and they're young lads being given a chance so sticking an injury prone championship player in CB in a leaky defence would've been much higher criticised.

Good luck to the lad, deserves a new chance given his injuries, and he was surplus here, I think Boro are going places again, good fit for the player, bit of money back, and space in the squad for another defender. Now who do we want?

Let's face it, as much as we all knew that Ayala had potential I don't think was ever really going to fulfill it with us. He was injury prone and had a bad stay at Forest last term, however at Boro he seems to have found the right level of football. Good luck to him, I'm sure he'll do well, however as far as I'm aware he had a recall clause in his loan deal anyway, meaning he was still our fourth choice CB. This must mean another is on the way soon. If the rumours about Ciani are true then I will be impressed. The man is tall, athletic and reasonably pacy, and perhaps most importantly throws himself at every ball from set pieces. Hopefully that'll add some much needed goals for us this year. It's going to be a fascinating week or so!

BBC Gossip Column has the fee as only £350,000. Quite a drop from £800,000. We only have 2 fit CBs+Kafu, so I hope a new CB is on the way in. If Kafu is forced into CB duties we`d have to play Whittaker @ RB. That won`t strengthen the defence. Anyway, Vaughan`s & C. Martin`s careers seem to have revived since they escaped, so maybe the same could happen for a defender? Good luck, Daniel. Enjoy your football.

Out of interest, if Hughton signed an injury ridden central defender who's made 12 appearances in the Championship and has limited Premier League experience, would
you celebrate the signing or criticise it?

Ayala's found his level. Naturally he gets the cody McDonald "messiah effect" but he's nowhere near as good as Turner, Bennett or Bassong and we are going for another top quality CB so letting him go is natural. Some of you negative lot have no ambition crying over Ayala, yet another failed Lambert signing.

Before anyone complains about getting a rid of player they thought had potential. This means we're going to sign a new CB in this transfer window, so this is great news. Hughton aren't silly enough to let one go without replacing them.

Fair point Dan , but then that raises the question of who is supposed to resolve the leaky defence , a defence that he said he wanted to tighten up . So we are now left with strikers that don't score due to lack of service , wingers that can't cross , midfielders that are reluctant to get forward because any that do are likely to get dropped , which leads us to a defence that has extreme trouble with defending . Where do we go from here ?

Jesus everything seems to be aimed at Hughton but he's done nothing but make this club stronger. On paper we're as strong as we've ever been! Okay on the pitch things haven't gone that well, but you still can't argue that we're half way through the season sitting 12th and 1 point off 10th. Come on people, lets be realistic, that's a good position to be in. So Hoolahans threatening to leave? So what! He's not Hughtons player, he's Lamberts. Give Hughton a chance to build his own team and over time I'm sure we'll reap the rewards for doing so. Patience is a huge problem in football, owners, chairmen and fans. Look at Clubs like Man U (Ferguson) Everton (Moyes) Arsenal and now Pardew at Newcastle. Stability is the key to success. Lets be patient, remind ourselves we're in a good position in the league and realize that our current manager hasn't got his own team yet. Keep the faith, support the team and support Hughton. The grass isn't always yellow and greener on the other side.

Seemingly not, Derek. All the fans need to know are the ticket prices and the tariffs for tea, beer and pies etc. Oh, and prices of replica shirts and other such tat, erm, `merchandise`. The rest is none of their business. What impertinence!